


Speed the Collapse

by slashmyheartandhopetoporn



Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-08-06
Updated: 2015-08-06
Packaged: 2018-04-13 08:13:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,042
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4514544
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/slashmyheartandhopetoporn/pseuds/slashmyheartandhopetoporn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They have ups and downs.</p><p>[49. going through a divorce au (mcchekov)]</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

He’s 40 and Pavel is 23. The first five year mission is over, has been over for about a month now, and if Leonard’s being completely honest with himself he’s not sure he’s going to sign up for a second. Doesn’t matter how much Jim insists he has to. He hasn’t talked about his reservations with Pavel yet, doesn’t want to start a fight or worse yet instigate one of those prolonged silences Pavel’s famous for when he’s devastated by something. Leonard knows he has to deal with his thoughts at some point, but not tonight.

Tonight Leonard focuses on making dinner from scratch rather than a replicator. There’s fried chicken on the stove, smashed potatoes in the oven, and corn on the cob roasting on the indoor grill. He’s got a green salad waiting to be dressed and homemade peach ice cream in the freezer. Sweet mint tea’s chilling in the fridge, one of Pavel’s favorites. 

Pavel had called from the fleet yard about an hour ago saying he’d about finished up and would be home as soon as possible, so Leonard’s expecting him any minute. They haven’t seen much of each other since returning to Earth a month back, for while Leonard’s had the time off Pavel had volunteered himself to help with ship repairs. 

“Don’t you just want to sit around and be lazy for a bit?” Leonard had asked the night before they were due back on land. 

Pavel had huffed. “Of course not! I’m not old like you; I don’t require as much rest.” Then he had winked at Leonard and dropped a kiss on his nose. 

But Pavel’s decision meant he spent almost every day at the shipyard, awake and readying to go before Leonard had fully awoken himself, and back late at night, sometimes after Leonard had already tucked himself into bed. Today was the last day Pavel’s assistance was welcome, Scotty promising to beat him over the head if he turned back up again, and Leonard had felt like celebrating.

There’s a chime and then a  _swoosh_ , and when Leonard turns around Pavel is in the living room, tossing his bag on the ground and collapsing onto the couch. 

“Lyov,” he wails dramatically, “I am so hungry.”

Leonard snorts. “That the only reason you came home somewhat on time? Because you knew I’d be cooking?”

Pavel groans. “It smells so good, and all I’ve had to eat today is one sad, sad bowl of soup. Lyov, have pity! Also please throw over a chicken leg.”

“You want a snack then you’re going to have to walk yourself over to get it,” replies Leonard sternly while he turns over a piece of chicken.

Pavel sighs and stands slowly, trundling his way into the kitchen. He stops beside Leonard and tilts his chin upwards for a kiss, which Leonard softly delivers on Pavel’s lips. 

“I am revived,” Pavel says with a smile. “But I would still not say no to that leg.” Leonard hands one to him wordlessly.

Dinner is a relaxed affair, despite all the effort Leonard put into it. Their plates don’t match and they’ve got paper towels for napkins, and the tea’s served in Budweiser pint glasses. But Leonard and Pavel make eyes at one another while Pavel shares his latest Scotty story, and if Leonard feeds Pavel a spoonful or two of the ice cream while Pavel sits in his lap on the couch aftwerwards, then no one need know about it.

In bed later, after the first sex they’ve had in two weeks, Leonard’s got one hand running through Pavel’s hair, mussing the sweat-heavy curls. 

“Leo,  _hvatit_ ,” Pavel says with a laugh. He gives more weight to his voice and attempts a serious expression. “You will tangle and frizz my hair, and I will look less cute. Is that what you want?”

Leonard removes his hand slides it along Pavel’s neck, arm, and waist, settling it there loosely. “I want nothing of the sort.”

They’re staring at each other and wearing smiles on their lips, Pavel’s open and joyous, Leonard’s reserved but sincere, and Leonard thinks there’s no way he’s giving up five years of this. He won’t survive it, no matter how much he struggles with being in a starship for so long. He will survive that better than losing what he’s built with Pavel over the last half-decade. 

“I love you, Pasha, so much,” whispers Leonard. 

“And I love you, Lyov,” Pavel replies. Then he shifts so that he’s flush against Leonard’s skin, one arm thrown around Leonard’s neck. “More than anything.”

Leonard has a few decisions to make between now and the next mission. There’s always a myriad of red tape to deal with before any departure. But a new decision floats into Leonard’s consciousness and demands immediate attention, however outrageous it seems.

He’s 40 years old, and Pavel is a mere 23, but Leonard looks into Pavel’s eyes and sees galaxies. Looks into his eyes and thinks,  _forever_. 

So Leonard grips Pavel’s waist harder, terrified of his own folly, and asks, “Pavel, would you marry me?”

And Pavel’s breath catches, and his eyes begin to shine, and he says, “Yes, Leonard. With all my heart, yes.”


	2. Chapter 2

The engagement is short, as Leonard has no desire to plan a large wedding and Pavel seems content with a private exchange of vows with only Jim and Sulu as witnesses and then a much more public reception. Jim’s so over the moon about the whole thing that he offers to organize the reception himself, and Leonard accepts, though he suspects he might regret that allowance later. 

It’s been a week since his lackluster–but earnest–proposal, and they’re still a month off from the ceremony, so Leonard gets lunch with Nyota and Scotty in an attempt to cling to some sort of normalcy while Jim revs reception planning into high gear and Pavel works on the logistics of setting up the private wedding. He’s hoping to take his mind off his impending second marriage, but Scotty and Nyota seem to have other plans. 

“I never thought I’d see the day,” says Nyota as she sips her Long Island, a grin twisting her lips.

Scotty still looks a bit shell-shocked, though Leonard’s sure Pavel told him about the engagement the day after it happened. “It’s just he’s a bit young, isn’t he, Len?”

Leonard shrugs. “People have been known to marry younger.” Leonard appreciates Scotty’s concern, understands it comes from a place of love for Pavel. But Pavel’s an adult, and they’ve been partners for a good three and a half years, and quite frankly Leonard doesn’t need to explain himself to anyone to start with. 

Scotty, always observant, picks up on Leonard’s slight offense, and his knit brow relaxes into a smile. “I’m not doubting you two,” he says, and he’s being sincere. “Sometimes I forget Pavel’s been through all the same shit we have.”

“He wears it better,” says Nyota. “He’s like Jim that way.”

“Resilient,” Leonard agrees with a nod.

They consider that in silence until their food arrives.

If Jim has any reservations about the marriage, he hides them well. Leonard tells him the evening after he pops the question to Pavel, and Jim gets Leonard so drunk he throws up three times.

“This is the best thing I’ve ever heard,” Jim slurs sometime between vomit sessions #2 and #3. 

Leonard is laughing hysterically for reasons he can’t remember. “It’s the best thing I’ve heard, too,” he says between wheezes. 

They’re slumped together on Jim’s kitchen floor, and Leonard’s entertaining the idea of sliding all the way down so he can rest his burning cheeks on the cool tile. “I’m so fucking hot,” he says after a deep breath. He feels his laughter abating. 

But then Jim says, “Yeah, you are,” with a lascivious grin, and Leonard’s set off laughing again. Jim keeps tapping Leonard’s shoulder urgently, as if to get Leonard’s attention. “No, but Bones, Bones, are you  _listening_ to me? I have a question.”

Leonard’s wiping tears away from his eyes. “I’m listening damn well, Jim,” he manages to say. He wants for some reason to call Jim “Jimothy.”

Jim gets serious a minute, face suddenly intense. “I just have have to know,” he says, voice all captain-like. “Is the sex dynamite?” Then he’s cracking into fits of giggles, and Leonard almost spits out his whiskey and ginger ale. 

He gets himself under control and nods. “Jim, it’s just about the best sex I’ve ever had.”

Jim gasps in fake offense and clutches his hand to his chest. “Bite your tongue,” he roars. “Bones, you and I fucked like every day when we were at the academy together!”

And then they’re laughing again until Leonard has to run to the bathroom For upchuck round three.

Apparently Pavel’s friends take the news as well as Leonard’s. 

“Hikaru says he doesn’t think I could have picked a better man,” says Pavel a few days after Leonard’s binge night with Jim. Apparently he and Sulu celebrated with a bit more restraint. And Scotty was worried about  _Pavel_  being the immature one.

“That’s sweet of him to say,” replies Leonard. They’re tucked up together on the couch with the last little bowl of peach ice cream shared between them. “Scotty thinks I’m swindling you out of your youth.” Leonard’s still a bit bent up about it.

Pavel snorts. “That sounds like our Mr. Scott.”

“Doesn’t rub you the wrong way at all?”

Pavel shrugs and sneaks his spoon in for the last bite. “You know that people have underestimated me for my age for over a decade. Am I to be offended every time?”

“I suppose not,” says Leonard but….

“You aren’t convinced?”

Leonard swallows. “No, I know I haven’t roped you into anything you don’t want to be roped into–”

“Am I cattle now?” Pavel interjects with an amused smile. “Caught in your cowboy lasso?”

“Of course you’re not,” Leonard says. “You know what I mean.”

“I do,” Pavel agrees. “I can’t control how you feel, we’ve talked about this before. But know I take no offense at Scotty’s concerns, and I don’t think you should either.” Then Pavel hops off the couch with the empty bowl and rinses it clean in the kitchen.

The exchange of vows itself is a quiet affair, witnessed only by Jim, Sulu, Spock, Nyota, and Scotty. (A stink had been raised when it was understood only Jim and Sulu were originally part of the plan.) Leonard keeps his short and sweet:

_“Pavel,_

_There are promises I have made to you and broken,_ _and there are promises I have kept that I should never have made._ _But there’s one promise I will make to you today and keep until long past the day I’ve died:_

 _I will always love you, Pavel, as my partner and my husband,_ _and most especially as my friend._

_I love you, Pasha.”_

Pavel’s vows are said first in his native tongue, and Leonard understands maybe half of what is said. But he knows that Pavel is trying to express himself as purely as he can, and that can only be done in his mother Russian. But once he finishes, he repeats everything in English for Leonard and their small audience:

_My darling Lyov,_

_There are many things you have healed, so many people who have you to thank for their lives._ _But today, selfishly, I want to thank you only for the ways you have healed me, my heart and my mind and my soul._

 _Life has not been easy for either of us, but my life is better for having you in it._ _I hope to bring you the same joy and wonder that you daily bring to me._

_I love you, Leonard._

Leonard doesn’t remember what really follows, because he’s too stunned by the feeling behind Pavel’s words. He knows they kisses–has seen the many pictures snapped by Jim and Scotty–and he remembers the explosion of sound from their party. 

But really what stands out most in his mind is the expression on Pavel’s face as he finishes his vows. The look of pure joy isn’t something Leonard thinks he’s ever going to forget. 

**Author's Note:**

> prompted by my dear friend, alex (siderefposts) on tumblr.


End file.
